Interview: Squares’ Chris Barrett

Salute to you on the release of the new SLR Visuals directed music video for "Nostalgic", which appears on your debut album "Mountains". Of all the great songs on the album, why did you select this track to create a visual for?

Thank you! This song has a special meaning to me specifically because of the sound. Just performing music alone is nostalgic for me because every time I perform or sit down to write a song, it takes me right back to when I was a kid learning how to be a musician in my basement.

My family was huge in supporting me especially my mom, so it make me think of her. Also, the sound of the song is a chill throwback to the amazing music that I grew up on, from funk, R&B, and soul music like Earth Wind and Fire, Al Green, to some of the Motown greats like Marvin Gaye, and Michael Jackson.

Speaking of the album, tell us about your creative process for the development of its 11 tracks. Also, were there songs that you recorded that did not make the final tracklist?

So overall, I wanted to make an album that really showed off my versatility. There is kind of a wide range of songs and styles represented on the record and I’m super happy about that. I wanted the record to be well balanced from chill melodic songs, to more upbeat, high intensity bangers (i.e. the title track “Mountains”).

Lyrically and style wise, I started off wanting to keep the indie integrity of Squares which I think was maintained well, but I’m super happy that most of the songs took their own shape, touching on some different genres and feels.

I did have some ideas that didn’t quite make it on this record, but I’m definitely keeping them in the holster for future albums because I still have a lot of love for them!

How old were you when you initially fell in love with music, and were there any specific artists and/or producers early on that influenced you artistically?

I was around 13 years old when music really hit me as a passion and what I wanted to do. Drums is my primary instrument and my brother is also a drummer. One day he brought home an instructional video featuring Carter Beauford of the Dave Matthews Band. I watched the whole thing from start to finish and I was HOOKED! I decided literally while watching it that I wanted to play drums and that I wanted to be a musicians. The rest was really history from there!

There are plenty of producers and artists that I love and admire very very much. Some of my main influences as far as artists are: Michael Jackson, The Police, Incubus, Usher, MGMT, and Twenty One Pilots (among MANY others).

As far as producers: I LOVE the work that Pharrell does, also Dr. Dre, Polow Da Don, Stargate, Max Martin, Rick Rubin, and Oak Felder. Too many to name lol.

How many instruments do you play, and which would you say was the most difficult to learn?

I play mostly 4 instruments: Drums, guitar, bass, and little keyboard. Drums was definitely the most difficult, but also the most fun lol.

With the "Mountains" album and the "Nostalgic" music video now released, what next can we expect from Squares musically?

So we’ll have more music videos for some of the songs on the album coming soon, and we’ll continue playing live and hopefully be on a couple small tours starting late 2023 and early 2024!

Listen to “Mountains” on: Spotify

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